Julian of Norwich lived during the late fourteenth century- early
fifteenth century. Many things were happening in Europe at that time.
The main thing going on at that time was the Bubonic or Black Plague.
The plague spread in waves. It was spread by fleas, which got it from
infected ship rats. The plague lasted about one-hundred years. The
Bubonic Plague was very influential in the works of art and the way
people felt at that time period. Another thing going on was the hundred
years war. This was actually lasted one-hundred fifteen years, and was
fought between the French and British. During the life of Julian the
Avignion Papacy was going on. This was when the popes moved from
Rome to France and the French kings had a lot of power because the
kings and the popes worked together to help each other out. it was a
very confusing time at one point they had a French and a roman pope.
Eventually, it was all straightened out with some help from Catherine
of Sienna who had a dream were God told her the pope needed to be in
Rome. She told her story to pope Gregory XI who returned the papacy
to Rome. The first great work of literature in the English language was
The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer around 1390.
Chaucer was, at various times, a court page, a soldier, and a diplomat.
His travels exposed him to a variety of men and women, many of
whom served as models for his vivid characters. Chaucer tells the story
of a group of pilgrims bound for the shrine of Thomas ? Becket, who
entertained themselves by telling tales. Also at that time the Aztec
empire was taking off and it was taken over by the Spaniards in 1521.
CONTENT
In Julian’s visions, she believes Jesus is communicating directly with
her because the images she sees are so vivid and real, and she believes
she felt Heaven. It was then that Julian realized that the trinity is
everything good in the world. She felt unworthy to receive these
images but God still gave them to her. She feels Mary’s thoughts and
realizes that Jesus wanted to live as a human, as one of his Father’s
creatures. After this is when she decides to turn her life over to God.
She feels that God is always with us, helping and loving. Realizing that
God loves everything, no matter how big or small, rich or poor. Julian
believes we, like god, must consider every little thing and love it. The
man-made things are what God thinks we are too good for. He want’s
us to have the best, which is him, and remember that he made people to
love other people. As we saw in these papers we read, God’s message
to us is that we will all die in the end, and our souls will either go with
Him or His outcast angel, Lucifer. Us humans see death as a bad thing
but it should be looked at with glory because we are going to a better
place with better people and the only Lord. However some people can
be damned to hell if they don’t follow God’s simple laws. The Lord
has a great deed for us, but it will only be reviled to us when He say’s
the time has come and if we achieve it then we will have made this
world a better place. In the papers, God as Mother, in my opinion
symbolizes the beginning of all. Mothers are what nurture and protect
and care for us from the beginning. They watch over us and we come
from them. These images are almost always portrayed as God, we
come from him and he watches over us, like a mother.
PERSONAL REFLECTION
There are some very moving points in Julian’s visions. Some
points she makes in her book are very moving and get me thinking
about my own personal views on the stuff she talks about. I am at time
very courious about my religion, as you will see later in the essay. I do
believe there is a God and I will always believe that, but at times it
hard to because when I pray to him I don’t know if he is going to
answer me. Yet I always pray because I know that he will hear at least
one of them.
Julian talks about the trinity. She says ?…the trinity is God and
God is the trinity.? And she proceeds to talk about how the trinity is
everything good in the world. I, like many, am not sure how the trinity
works, but if the trinity is everything good, and the trinity is God, and
God is everywhere, then why do all these bad things happen? How can
God let people suffer and be tortured in His name? Many Christians
say it is a test of faith, but then is it God who decides if you are going
to die and then how long before you will live? Jesus’ close friends even
suffered long torturous deaths to be with Him. Now, would make your
friends suffer a long, hard death to hang around with you. Now I
myself am torn on which way to go about capital punishment. I believe
that the people who have killed others for no reason that they should
have to pay for their crimes. On the hand I as a catholic do not believe
that people should die. I contemplate that the government should find a
big island out in the ocean and put all the murders, and convicts
together. Allow them to live by themselves with enough clothes and
water. But they should also have to grow their own food, and take care
of their home. Not to get me wrong, the US coast guard would have to
patrol the coast so they won’t escape. This way they live together and
can kill themselves, but do not have to spend time in a crappie prison.
Back to before, why is God only shows himself to a select few?
It would seem to me if He is so great and powerful, He would want
Himself to be known to all, instead of making us all play a guessing
game.
Another thing is, how do we know we are worshipping the right
God? The ancient people didn’t worship our God, or even one God,
but did they get into heaven? There are many different religions in the
world today, how do we know that Buddha, Muhammad, or Zeus isn’t
the right God?
All these ideas are one side of what I think, and I pray that God
doesn’t punish me for saying these things. I know of many reasons that
show there is a God. Good things do happen, which would back up
certain points Julian makes, such as in chapter five when she says God
is always with us and loving us. I see things in the world that I cannot
explain or that science can’t explain, and God made that happen. this
packet has got me thinking in new, better ways about god.
